The Campus Martius (Latin for 'Field of Mars'; Italian: Campo Marzio) was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers a smaller section of the original area, bears the same name.
Antiquity According to Rome's foundation myth, prior to the founding of the city, Rhea Silvia had her twin sons, Romulus and Remus, taken by the King of Alba Longa. The boys were later discarded in the swelling Tiber River, which would later run along the Campus' western boundary. Washing ashore further downriver, the brothers would return decades later to found a new city. Romulus, who became Rome's sole king (after killing his brother Remus), ruled for many years until sometime in the seventh century B.C. As he came to the end of his life, a storm cloud descended upon the center of the open field outside the city's pomerium in order to lift the elderly king to the afterlife.Jacobs II, P., & Conlin, D. (2015). Campus Martius: The Field of Mars in the Life of Ancient Rome. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. 3
This land, "between the city and the Tiber", became the property of Rome's last Etruscan king, Tarquinius Superbus. After his defeat and exile, the plain was dedicated to the god Mars.Livy. Books I and II With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. 2.5.2 Roman men assembled every spring before heading off to fight the hostile tribes that surrounded Rome, and citizens gathered for important religious festivals. With the exception of a small altar to Mars near the center of the field, no visible changes were made to the field until the fifth century B.C.
In 435 B.C., the Villa Publica was established in a prepared 300-meter clearing. The area was a gathering space for citizens to congregate every five years to be counted in a census, but had no permanent structures; no additions would be made for another two centuries.Livy. Books III and IV With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. 4.22.7
With the advent of the Punic Wars in the mid-third century B.C., Roman military expansion moved out of the Italian peninsula, resulting in the reduction of seasonal musters on the field. The number of foreign wars, however, greatly increased the amount of wealth flowing into Rome. Generals who had sworn to various deities to build temples in their honor if victorious used the vast amounts of wealth to fund these construction projects. Besides temples and wooden markets, entertainment venues were built as well, though they were to be temporary.
Starting in the time of Sulla, building lots were sold or granted to influential Romans, and insulae (apartment blocks) and villas encroached on the common land. It later became the place for comitia centuriata, civic meetings with weapons, and for the city's militia. In 55 BC, Pompey constructed a permanent theater, the Theatrum Pompeium, the first stone theater in Rome. When the Curia Hostilia burned down in 52 BC, the theater was sometimes used as a meeting place for the Senate. The area was also used as the assembling ground for elections. Julius Caesar planned for the Saepta (enclosures used for elections) to be placed there; they were later completed by his heir Augustus (Octavian). In 33 BC, Octavian dedicated the Porticus Octaviae, built from spoils of the Roman-Dalmatian War.
During the Augustan period of the early Roman Empire, the area became officially part of the city: Rome was split into 14 regions, and the Campus Martius was divided into the VII Via Lata on the east and the IX Circus Flaminius nearer to the river. The Campus Martius also held the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), built by the Senate to mark the establishment of peace by Augustus. It was intended to symbolize the successful completion of Augustus' efforts to stabilize the Empire. Marcus Agrippa had the original swampy ground made into a pool and baths in a setting of parkland and temples, the Laconicum Sudatorium or Baths of Agrippa. Also, he built the Porticus Argonautarum and the Pantheon, which was later rebuilt by Hadrian as it still stands today. In 19 BC, he also completed the Aqua Virgo, to supply water to these new baths and fountains.
In the non-populated northern area was the huge Mausoleum of Augustus. Other buildings that were made were the Theatre of Marcellus, the Temple for Isis (from around the time of Caligula), the baths and bridge by Nero, and Pompey's theatre, where Julius Caesar was murdered by Marcus Brutus and his allies. After the great fire of 64 A.D. Domitian rebuilt the burnt monuments plus a stadium (eventually to become today's Piazza Navona) and an Odeion (a small performance hall). In 119 A.D, reinforcing the themes of imperial divinity and apotheosis established by Augustus, Hadrian and the succeeding Antonines added a temple to Hadrian's mother-in-law, the Divine Matidia, and a temple to the Divine Hadrian himself built by Antoninus Pius.Platner, Samuel Ball, and Thomas Ashby. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London: Oxford UP, H. Milford, 1929. Print. 331
As was the case with the first two Flavian and Antonine emperors, the Severans did not commit many resources to construction projects in an already crowded Campus Martius. Their interests lay elsewhere in repairs and commissioning new structures in other regions of the capital.Jacobs II, P., & Conlin, D. (2015). Campus Martius: The Field of Mars in the Life of Ancient Rome. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. 162 The Campus did not see another major architectural change until the reign of Aurelian.
The citizens of Rome took great pride in knowing that Rome required no fortifications because of the stability brought by the Pax Romana under the protection of the Roman Army. In 270 A.D., however, barbarian tribes flooded across the Germanic frontier and reached northern Italy as the Roman army struggled to stop them. To alleviate the city's vulnerability, the emperor ordered the construction of a 19-kilometer-long, 6 to 8-meter-high brick wall, fortified with defensive turrets, named the Aurelian Walls. Aurelian did not live to see his work completed under his successor Probus, in 276 A.D. With the completion of the walls, the Campus Martius was finally incorporated into the rest of the city.Platner, Samuel Ball, and Thomas Ashby. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London: Oxford UP, H. Milford, 1929. Print. 348–350
By the mid-fourth century, when emperor Constantius II visited Rome, now the former capital, many of the pagan temples were closed. Buildings dedicated to Christianity began to occupy their spaces. Some were reduced to supporting material, some were razed, and some were given new roles, such as the Pantheon. In 663 A.D. its bronze roof tiles were removed and replaced with lead, an act that Gregorius said was the result of "excessive avarice and the 'excessive greed for gold.'"Gregorius, Magister. 1987. Narracio de mirabilibus urbis Romae. Translated by John Osborne in The Marvels of Rome. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. 29 In the fifth century, Rome was burned and sacked twice: by the Visigoths in 410 A.D. and by the Vandals in 455 A.D. Three earthquakes racked the city between 408 and 508 A.D, and two floods washed over low-lying spaces in 398 and 411 A.D. Many marble facings and columns were tossed into kilns to be burned into lime powder for reuse.Manacorda, Daniele, 2000. Crypta Balbi: Museo nazionale romano. Milan: Electa. 20
Writing in the twelfth or thirteenth century, Magister Gregorius, marveled at those edifices in the Field of Mars whose antiquity was clear but whose names were not as certain.Gregorius, Magister. 1987. Narracio de mirabilibus urbis Romae. Translated by John Osborne in The Marvels of Rome. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. 10-15 Looking down from the heights of one of Rome's hills, he recorded that the great structures had been replaced by a "forest of [medieval] towers".Gregorius, Magister. 1987. Narracio de mirabilibus urbis Romae. Translated by John Osborne in The Marvels of Rome. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. 18 In 1581, French essayist Michel de Montaigne traveled to Rome and noted that "upon the very wrecks of the ancient buildings, as they fall to ruin, the builders set out casually the foundations of new houses, as if these fragments were great masses of rock, firm and trustworthy. It is evident that many of the old streets lie more than thirty feet below the level of those now in existence."Montaigne, Michel de. 1983. Montaigne’s Travel Journal. Translated by Donald Murdoch Frame. San Francisco: North Point Press. 100
Geography The Campus Martius was located not in the city proper, but north of the Capitoline Hill.Jacobs II, P., & Conlin, D. (2015). Campus Martius: The Field of Mars in the Life of Ancient Rome. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. 2 Until the imperial era, most of the region lay outside of the pomerium. The field covered an area of about 250 hectares, or 600 acres, extending a little more than two kilometres north and south from the Capitoline to the porta Flaminia, and a little less than two kilometers east and west in its widest part, between the Quirinal and the river. It was low, from 10 to 15 metres above the level of the sea in antiquity, now 13 to 20, and from 3 to 8 above that of the Tiber, and of course subject to frequent inundations. Ancient writers say that there were several recognizable natural points, such as an oak grove north of the Tiber Island and the Palus Caprae, in the center of the space.Platner, Samuel Ball, and Thomas Ashby. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London: Oxford UP, H. Milford, 1929. Print. 91-94
Significance In Latin, Campus Martius means "Field of Mars", a god highly considered in the Roman pantheon. Paul W. Jacobs III attributes the significance of Mars to his patronage of both military and agriculture.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Martius (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 29. In the calendar year, March was the month named after Mars: this month first marked the beginning of when the consuls started to work until 153 BC.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Martius. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 28
The Campus Martius may have been named after the Ara Martis ("Mars' altar"), which was talked about starting in the eighth century BC.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Marius (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 29-30 It is not known exactly when the Ara Martis was built or when it was destroyed.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Martius (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 30
The social climate and events surrounding Campus Martius were significant to Roman culture. Livy describes a horse race called the second Equirria, which started on March 14. The winning horse was killed and sacrificed to Mars.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Martius (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014) 28
The second event used to support his claim was the Anna Perenna. This event was when the plebs would go out to Campus Martius to eat and drink.Jacobs II, Campus Martius (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014)28 The reason why Anna Perenna was important was because she was an ugly hag and she represented the end of a year, and Mars represented the nice beginning of the year.Jacobs II, Paul, Campus Martius, (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014) 28
The last event Jacobs II talks about is the Tubilustrium festival, which purified military instruments to summon the cruciate assemblies. This celebration used to validate the emperors' imperium, but later on the festival validated the consuls imperium.
Architecture